The Mummy who is winging it…

Excema – A families Curse

A lot people think of excema as dry skin. I honestly pray for the day that’s all I have to worry about. Tonight hubby and I tag team to wrap bandages, pin down and deal with two children in a lot of pain. It’s not unusual to see calpol and piritin handed out as usual bedtime snack.

Both my children have excema they have had it since there were babies. Research shows that children born from parents who have Excema , hay fever or asthma are likely to have the genes too.

To know your the cause of there pain is heart breaking. Both myself and my husband have excema and we don’t remember a time we didn’t. The memories of salt baths, bandages, creams and pain of our own childhood are still remembered after all these years.

When we had our first baby we had all fingers and toes crossed that Charlotte wasn’t going to be given this curse. 12 weeks hit and so did the red patches. My heart sank. I knew what it was so when I took my fresh little newborn up to the doctors I knew exactly what was destroying her beautiful newborn skin.

The next two years we spent month after month with a baby that was in pain 24/7. Her skin had open cuts. Infection after infection. Every bedtime you spent the time trying to cream up a screaming baby knowing that you were the cause of there pain.

It’s took us over two years to finally get a appointment for Charlotte at a hospital. As soon as we arrived we were sent to have her bandages put on, But sadly the scars had already taken there permanent place.

Then along came Fraser sadly we knew that no chance he was going to avoid it. Just like clock work at 8 weeks his skin also started to change. This time though I went all mother bear I wasn’t willing to watch another of my children spend day after day in pain. I wasn’t willing to be fobbed off with creams that weren’t going to make a dent in how bad his skin was getting. So at 8 months Fraser was seen and his skin was very different. If you didn’t know what was wrong with him you would of thought that we had poured a kettle of boiling hot water all over him.

Here we are Charlotte at 5 and Fraser at 1 and unlike most parents bedtime of relaxing, it’s the time everything calms down. In our house hold it’s where the screaming begins we start our routine for each munchkin.

Both children need to be bathed separately incase one has a little infection and passes it to the other. Recently Fraser also has taken a hatred towards the bath possible due to having sore skin and the bath had made it feel a lot worse which now means he associates it with pain even though his skin has now healed. So bath time for him involves screaming and trying get him in and out as quickly as possible as he tries to claw his way out of the bath.

Both munchkins have very different creams. Between the two of them they have 12 different creams depending on the degree of infection.

If it’s a bad night both have steroid creams then possible specifically soaked bandages over certain parts if the skin is really badly infected. From there both covered in one of there many moistisers as though there about to compete in a slip and slid contest. With Charlotte open cuts and for Fraser his skin will look like it’s on fire. From there they are then put in there *wraps* which pretty much is like a giant Tubey grip bandage. There are defiantly not the easiest to put on. Charlotte still hates trying get them on but thankfully over the years she has learned that they are there to help. Fraser on the other hand, suddenly becomes a octopus trying to pin him down long Enough. I honestly don’t know how my husband does it on his own when I’m working.

Don’t get me wrong now both children have there specific creams we do get bouts of few days or few weeks even when we don’t have battles at bedtime. But once the weather changes *from hot to cold or vice versus * when they get unwell for Fraser when he has a tooth come through. Our new thing is when the pollen level goes crazy seems to be another trigger for Charlotte we are awaiting our battle stations for them to have a flare up.

They might be very lucky when they start to get older, their excema may disappear and they will be non the wiser. Except for the few scars that’s sadly been left behind. With so many new medicines appearing each year maybe their childhood won’t be tainted with bedtimes from hell, but with the past history of their parents I feel it’s going to be something they’re sadly going to need to come to terms with for the rest of there lives with that I feel truly guilty for.